Waynesboro and New Oxford played one for the ages on Monday afternoon at Maiden Field, and, if it were a professional game, fans would have been heading for the exits after the Maidens fell behind 10-0 after three and a half innings.

But, as some, no doubt, were bracing for a 10-run rule Colonial victory, Waynesboro kept them waiting. And waiting. It was just after five o'clock when New Oxford scored its 10th run, a solo home run by Sarah Smith.

All starting pitcher Nicole Ayers had to do was record six outs without giving up a run and the win would have been in the bag and the Colonials would be boarding the school district vans en route to the trip back to Adams County.

If the Maidens were trailing by double-digit runs, they weren't paying attention. Waynesboro calmly and cooly chipped away and chipped away until a six-run barrage in the bottom of the seventh tied the game and a run in the ninth won it for the Maidens, 13-12.

"I don't think I've ever been associated with this kind of game in probably 25 years," said Waynesboro head coach Doug Stuart. "If I was, it was back in my early days. I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure I was never in a game like this."

New Oxford had baseunners in each of the eighth and ninth innings, but the Maidens defense shut the door on any scoring chances.

Waynesboro failed to score in the eighth, but after Ashway walked to lead off the ninth, an air of anticipation descended upon the vocal crowd on the hill behind home plate. Ashway stole second easily — her fourth of the game — and she advanced to third on a ground out.

Ayers pitched around Caitlin Eigenbrode, who up until her sixth at bat was a one-player wrecking crew. She ignited her team's comeback by hitting a three-run home run in the fourth and finished the game with three hits, two runs scored and six runs batted in.

"She's been on a tear," Stuart said of Eigenbrode. "That (home run) was crucial. I thought the home run kind of brought life back to us. That's when we started chipping away."

An Ayers offering bounced off the glove of the catcher and Ashway sprinted towards home plate. By the time the throw reached home plate, it was too late. Ashway slid safely for the winning run.

"I told Kaelyn, 'You have to get on base,'" Stuart said. "When Kaelyn gets on base, that's a problem for the defense. No one's thrown her out all year with a straight steal. She's such a great baserunner. She puts a lot of pressure on people.

Page 2 of 2 - "What separates her is instinct. You can't coach that. When she scored the winning run, the ball didn't get that far away. She has such great speed. They were confused with what they were doing (with Eigenbrode). You could see it. I told Kaelyn at third base to look out. If there's any leeway, go. (Ayers) threw it and it hit the lip of the glove and rolled away just a little bit and Kaelyn pounced on it."

Until the bottom of the fourth, Waynesboro only had two baserunners. Ayers set down the side in order in the third, using the defense for two of the outs and getting a strikeout to start the inning.

Then, in the fourth, the Maidens entered a portal into a different dimension — a scoring dimension. Ashway walked to lead off the inning and stole second. Callie Good also drew a free pass, setting up Eigenbrode's 3-run homer.

Waynesboro cut into the lead some more with two runs in the fifth and added a run in the sixth to make it 10-6.

But New Oxford added what appeared to be two insurance runs in the seventh to take a 12-7 lead, setting up a zany sequence of events in the bottom of the seventh that resulted in extra innings.

Harshman led off the inning with a fly ball into the outfield that ended up as a double after the ball bounced away from the center fielder. She scored one batter later when Cheyenne Henning reached on an error. After an out, Alyssa Hamilton walked and Nicole Kreimer singled to load the bases.

Mariah Yingling kept the rally going with a run-scoring single. Ashway then reached on a fielder's choice to make it 12-10. Down to her team's last out, Good reached on an infield error, scoring Ashway. Eigenbrode followed with a single to score Good to tie the game.

A walk to Harshman in her second at bat of the inning put runners on first and second. Good made good contact on a ground ball, which almost got by the infield but instead ended the inning.

"The one thing I know about our club is we can put the ball in play," Stuart said. "I thought it was only a matter of time for our bats to get on track. It was just a matter of keeping them from hitting.

"Sadie came on and did a nice job to cool their bats down."

Harshman came on in relief of Haely Beamer with no outs in the top of the third inning during the Colonials' eight-run inning. After giving up two runs on four hits in the frame, Harshman settled down, allowing three runs on five hits in seven innings.